Dehydrogenation reactions are endothermic reactions, so energy must be added to release hydrogen. There are two characteristics often associated with dehydrogenation reactions: (1) the forward reaction is thermodynamically unfavorable; and (2) a significant amount of thermal energy needs to be supplied to the endothermic reaction for the reaction to proceed to completion. Catalysts are commonly used to improve reaction rates and lower the activation energy of dehydrogenation reactions so that they become economically feasible in industrial applications.
Catalytic dehydrogenation is a desired functionalization method for a variety of industrially important processes. Current dehydrogenation methods using stoichiometric oxidizing agents often generate large amounts of toxic byproducts and often suffer from poor catalytic activity and selectivity.